Rite of spring

A spectacular show of crocus from about two weeks ago. We've had good luck in recent years--decent weather and the system of bamboo and bird netting keeps the deer and rabbits out.

Blooming ...

... on the berm by the road. Spring is starting to show.

Gaining on spring

Ussurian pear (or is it callery pear?)

Elsewhere, spring is already melting into summer. Here, after a long winter and a cold, wet May, spring is finally getting underway. 

Toasting the melting

An evening drink on the deck for the first time since October? September? A warm, sunny Saturday after weeks of snow, cold and clouds. Plenty of snow still out there, but the melt is under way.

10 things I love about the garden

Please bear in mind that this is by no means a complete list. But here are 10 things I'm thinking about in anticipation of the growing season. In no particular order of importance:

1. The chance to experiment with lilies like this beauty we bought at a sale at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

 

2. Cold drinks in the "cocktail lounge."

3. Bodacious clumps of daffodils behind ferns.

4. Frogs in the pond.

5. Brian cooking Thai green beans with pork in the garden.

Must be spring

The rose-breasted grosbeaks started showing up at the feeder a few days ago.

The first hummingbird of the season buzzed the daffodils and lungwort yesterday.

Lawn was mowed today.

Daffodil mystery

Where did these daffodils come from?

You can just make them out from the kitchen window. A couple of pale spots in the debris of stems and leaves covered by snow just a few weeks ago. I don't remember planting daffodils there. There across the bridge and a few feet off the path to the stream. There among the green shoots of the wild grasses shooting toward the sun.

But there they are.  

 Raindrops glisten on the petals.

I remember planting daffodils on the back hill and along the path that runs parallel to the ditch. And under the birch tree this side of the ditch. Several clumps have performed reliably over the years. A few others have disappeared. And these few -- well, they seem to have moved themselves and settled in. And they look as beautiful there as they do anywhere.

Silly Dog checks out a clump of daffodils along the path.

Easter

 A ground-level view of chionodoxa at the end of the driveway.

Sunshine. Blue sky. Warm. Light breeze. First long day in the garden this spring.

Chionodoxa in bloom. As is a tiny species crocus, C. olivieri balansae 'Zwanenburg.' Red-winged blackbirds. Grouse drumming. And frogs calling tonight -- just audible above the swoosh of the stream.

Dirt under the fingernails. Mud on the jeans. And mud on the silly dog.

Rebirth. Resurrection.

Dakota is happy the snow is gone, too.

Crocus olivieri balansae 'Zwanenburg' near the pond.

Can you see them?

They may not look like much but the first green tips of crocus are more than enough to lift winter-weary spirits.

Hoo-ray!

Thinking warm thoughts

Why do furnaces always act up on extra-cold weekends? Meanwhile, maybe a peek at some bulb favorites photographed last spring-- fritillarias, daffodils and tulips -- will trick me into feeling warmer.

After the thunderstorm

The bur oak is the last tree in the yard to leaf out in the spring and the first to lose its leaves in the fall. It's just now starting to show some green.

 

We had our first serious thunderstorm of the season the other night. Lots of rain and lots of lightning. The world the next morning was moist and hazy and warm -- a good time for taking a look-see and bringing you up-to-date on some of what is happening as the growing season accelerates.

Wild wood anemone, transplanted from the fringes of the woods to a home under the tree lilac, is an aggressive thug. Fistfuls must be pulled out to prevent it from taking over, but I love how it skirts the lilac's trunk.

The crab apple ('Molten Lava') is nearing its peak.

Ajuga (a k a bugleweed) mixes it up with lily of the valley.

Lamium is another plant to be reckoned with. Pink- and purple-flowered selections (the names have long since been forgotten) have commingled along with the silvery markings on the foliage.

Epimedium is a much better behaved ground cover. It looks like a flutter of paper hearts. 

Monday bloom report

Spring flowers are in fine form several weeks early thanks to our weirdly summerlike temperatures. Here's a sampling of what's in bloom right now.

Tulip Professor De Monsseri

Tulip Turkestanica

Blessings

Dutch crocus on the berm by the road.

1. Crocus are blooming on a warm and snowless Good Friday. (Easter bunnies welcome, as long as they don't come for dinner.)
2. Some daffodils and scilla are starting to come up.

3. Nubbins of sedums and phlox are showing purple and green.
4. Chives and sorrel are just about ready for nibbling.
5. Evening grosbeaks and juncos are among the visiting birds.
6. Lungwort is showing its spots and forget-me-nots are remembering how sunshine feels.
7. Rosy stubs of peonies and rhubarb are pushing up.
8. Iris is coming to attention.
9. Primula and tulips are breaking ground in anticipation of showing their colors later this month.
10. Shooting stars (Dodecatheon) are shooting through the earth.
(And this is just a partial list.)

The show is just getting under way.

First up: Ladykiller

'Ladykiller' pushes through a mess of leaf litter and reaches for the sun.

Break out the bubbly -- the season's first crocus is blooming at sillydoggarden. Crocus chrysantha 'Ladykiller' showed its handsome white and purple petals on Wednesday and, oh yeah, I was swooning for the rest of the day. It's a diminutive crocus, one of the species or snow varieties, but it's early, classy-looking and so easy to grow. It's a small patch just north of the front door so it doesn't make a big statement -- we'll leave that to the bigger and flashier Dutch crocus (C. vernus) on the berm near the road. Later, after the blooms are finished, 'Ladykiller's' ripening foliage will be hidden by hostas. It's a happy relationship.

I didn't expect to find this Friday afternoon.

I've been monitoring the Dutch crocus, watching as their slender leaves poke through the ground and sprinkling Milorganite to try and keep the rabbits and deer at bay. And on Friday, I was surprised to see one just barely flexing its petals. There's no denying it, crocus season is open. I'll have another glass of champagne, please.

Anticipation: This is a small portion of the crocus berm. With luck, we'll have a mass of purple, yellow and white in a few weeks.

Headlong (footlong?) into spring

Rubber boots are the footwear of choice as we reacquaint ourselves with the feel of gravel and wood chips under our feet. The main walkways are mostly free of snow and ice. 

It's practically balmy out there. The National Weather Service reports that we've hit 18 consecutive days with a high above freezing. It's the first March since 1878 in which the first 15 days of the month have recorded a high temperature above freezing at Duluth.

And we're lovin' it.

More signs of spring:

Rubber boots keep the feet dry when traipsing through the woods to the stream.

The stream at the back of the property is gorging on snowmelt, rumbling through the trees and providing a soundtrack that travels especially well at night when the rest of the world has quieted and it's just you (and the sillydog) standing in the dark by the deck.

The sillydog is giddy at being able to run again on something other than snow. He's so full of himself that no log is too big for him to try and move.

The first itty-bitty tips of crocus are starting to show on the berm out front. (And we've already trapped and relocated one hungry rabbit. Sigh.)

And there are wet, muddy pawprints at the door. Bring on the towels for wiping off a dog every time he comes back inside.

Tulips on my mind

The calendar may say June, but it feels more like fall today. Daytime temperatures in the 40s aren't unheard of this time of year, but that doesn't make them any more palatable. So, if the weather conjures up visions of autumn maybe it's an appropriate time to think about fall planting. I'm thinking about tulips. Of course, it helps that the Beauty from Bulbs catalog from John Sheepers arrived last week and with it Brian's announcement that we need to plant more species tulips. Indeed we do. We've dabbled with species tulips and so far have been very happy with the results. They're undemanding and beautiful. Here's a sampling of the show we enjoyed this spring, in order of appearance:

1. Tulipa turkestanica: This cool little baby has multiple flowers on each stem. It strikes me as an incredibly happy flower, probably because it blooms early when I really need a dose of optimism. It flutters and dances beautifully in a light breeze.

2. Tulipa humilis violacea: Lovely pools of magenta-purple. Rabbits got some of them this year, but not too many. That's tall garden phlox off to the right. It will help camouflage the tulip's dying foliage. Like other bulbs, you want to let the foliage of species tulips ripen before cutting them back.


3. Professor de Monsseri: This Greigii tulip has mottled foliage and red and yellow blooms. That's Sedum cauticola coming up between the bulbs. Another way to help camouflage dying/unattractive bulb foliage.


4. Tulipa dasystemon: The yellow center with white tips reminds me of fresh fried eggs. Delicious!

5. Tulipa hageri 'Splendens' (above and below): Love the skinny leaves and rusty red, dainty blooms. That's pussytoes (Antennaria) surrounding the tulips. I don't really care for the flowers of pussytoes so I'll whack them off and enjoy the silvery mat-forming foliage.